Environmental Engineering Reference
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vulnerable species (e.g., imperial eagle, griffon and black vultures) are recovering regionally and, in
some cases, locally (Ruiz, Ortega, Valero et al. 2010 and the government website mentioned below).
Further information about the population status of these species can also be found on the Birdlife
Spain website (SEO/BirdLife; http://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/national/spain/index.html).
5.5.2 Integration of canine units in the anti-poisoning strategy
of the Government of Andalucía
The detection teams initially dispatched by the Spanish regional government now some ten years
ago or more, were only able to identify a fraction of the baits left out in the wild to kill wildlife such
as mongoose and foxes. When the idea came to use dogs to detect poison, it just seemed to be a
question of common sense. We started our canine training operations in 2002 and by the beginning
of 2004 our fi rst unit joined us in the fi ght against poisoning. We are currently leading an important
long-term government project (initiated in 2000: 'Estrategia Andaluza de Lucha Contre el Veneno')
focused on reducing the incidence of illegal poisoning in wildlife in the Andalucía Region (http://
www.cma.junta-andalucía.es/medioambiente/site/web/menuitem.a5664a214f73c3df81d889966152
5ea0/?vgnextoid=2c1c638f0a77a110VgnVCM1000000624e50aRCRD&vgnextchannel=c715dfd0a
edac110VgnVCM1000001325e50aRCRD&lr=lang_es). The programme, which employs fi ve peo-
ple full-time, has a 1.2 million euro budget. We have 18 dogs in three units, the third and most recent
was ready for action by the spring of 2011.
Dogs in our anti-poisoning unit are trained in the same way as dogs in other units (e.g., detection
of drugs and explosives or recovery of victims following earthquakes). The only signifi cant differ-
ence is that under no circumstances can the dogs in our unit be rewarded with food, otherwise they
might be poisoned themselves. Instead, they are rewarded with playing. The reaction of a dog that
detects a bait/carcass or poison trace very much depends on the individual. Some bark energetically
or just sit down whereas others become playful, however, all of the dogs anxiously beg for their
reward (i.e., playing). We have never yet lost any dogs to poisoning, which can partly be attributed
to the professionalism of our handlers and their love for the dogs. Following the success of our
Spanish units, we have received many requests from other regions to train dogs for deployment to
other Spanish and European areas where poisoning is also a problem. So far, our dogs have been
dispatched to the Canary and Balearic Islands. Likewise, we have trained dogs for other Spanish
regions (e.g., the Pyrenees) as well as for Italy and Greece.
The training period of a dog can span anywhere from six months to one and a half years, depend-
ing on the individual. There is no specifi c type of dog that is more or less suited to this type of work
(see Figure 5.3) and each trainer has their own source of dogs. The trainer determines the capabilities
of each individual when they are puppies. Our dogs can detect bait that has been laced with (and car-
casses of animals poisoned by) carbofuran and a variety of different compounds commonly used to kill
wildlife (e.g., aldicarb and methomyl) (see Figure 5.4). They can locate very small (e.g., shrew-sized)
animals that have been secondarily poisoned and are even able to detect the very spot on the ground
where carcasses or baits were in the past. We also take dogs to inspect the vehicles, homes, and other
holding areas (such as barns and workshops) of suspects. A Judge's permission is required to enter an
individual's home, which we request in the event of a serious incident. As a result of our work and our
presence, many poisoners remove baits and dead animals on a daily basis, to avoid detection. This in
itself reduces the number of poisoning incidents overall. Today, these canine units are an essential part
of the work carried out by the government against poisoning, detecting some 70% more baits (Ruiz,
Valero, Sáez et al. 2010) (Figures 5.5 and 5.6).
Every year our results are released in an annual report, which carefully details all the data col-
lected (visit the aforementioned website for further details). In 2010, the dogs made 439 emergency/
routine inspections in the wild. An emergency inspection is one made as soon as we are informed
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